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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Kris Mineau on California Gay Marriage

This media statement was released today by our partner organization Massachusetts Family Institute:

Woburn, MA - The California Supreme Court, seemingly taking its lead from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, legalized same-sex marriage in a 4-3 decision today.

In 2000, the voters of California approved Proposition 22 by 61 percent, which said that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." Four judges have now ruled that the vote of the people does not matter.

"We empathize with the people of California in this direct attack on democracy and the rule of law," said MFI President Kris Mineau. "We have been fighting for years to allow the people of Massachusetts to vote on marriage. Today, the California Supreme Court went a step further than our own SJC and directly overturned the will of the people."

The California Supreme Court rejected the state's marriage laws as discriminatory, ruling that same-sex couples should be permitted to marry. The long-awaited court decision stems from the same-sex marriages that took place in San Francisco in 2004. The court's decision stands in contrast to rulings in New York, Washington and New Jersey that refused to grant same-sex couples marriage rights.

"The voters of California, though, have a luxury that Massachusetts voters do not have and that is a direct initiative petition process," continued Mineau. "Thanks to the hard work of our counterparts in California, who anticipated this decision, there will be a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November and the people will be able to protect traditional marriage from activist judges."

Initially in 2005, a San Francisco trial judge ruled that homosexuals should be allowed to marry, but that ruling was later overturned by a 2-1 vote by an appeals court, sending the case to the state Supreme Court. As in Massachusetts, one of the first couples to wed in San Francisco and the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the marriage laws have since separated and they are no longer part of the case.

"We must change the political climate on Beacon Hill so that the citizens of Massachusetts can vote on the definition of marriage," Mineau concluded.

No Kris Mineau, what we need to do is learn how to live as one people in a diverse population. We don't need to conform to the will of others unless by our exercise of liberty we curtail someone else's right to happiness. That accusation has been brought but never actualized in evidence, much like when you accused the legislators of being bribed last year at the June 14Th Constitutional Convention. You lack proof and therefore you also lack credibility.

Inalienable rights like the pursuit of happiness via marriage don't get voted away, end of story. It is thinking like yours that prevents America from being as strong as it once was and can still be. Ever hear of a motto, "United we stand, divided we fall"? We are all brothers and sisters under the flag of the United States of America, and not the selective teachings from the Bible. Fear of our fellow citizens is not an American value, nor is it productive to focus on fear to motivate your base support against those who have never done you any harm.

I pray for a day when people like you, James Dobson, Ted Haggard and the like can't fool enough people to stay in the Hate business.

Recommended Reading

Veteran Ben LaGuer

Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. "Why should they? What have I done?" he asked. Macdonald concludes: "Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster." The question, "What have I done?" is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam—as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.

– Chomsky, The Responsibility of Intellectuals 1967

Words to Remember:

"Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere; alterum non laedere; suum cuique tribuere"(These are the precepts of the law: To live honorably; to hurt nobody; to render to every one his due.)

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution

Never Forgotten; Sadly Missed

Lawrence King

GLBT Legends

Paul McMahon and Ralph Hodgdon in 2007

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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